Switzerland progress despite defeat

Ireland’s bogey team Switzerland booked their place in the World Cup finals by edging out Turkey in a dramatic match in Istanbul tonight.

Despite a 4-2 defeat in Istanbul, the Swiss overcame Turkey on the away goals rule, 4-4 on aggregate.

Tuncay Sanli scored a hat-trick for the Turks but Marco Streller’s 84th-minute goal put the Swiss through.

After losing 2-0 in Berne on Saturday, Turkey fell further behind tonight when Alexander Frei scored from the penalty spot after former Aston Villa defender Alpay handled inside the area.

But the Turks, who finished third in the 2002 World Cup, rallied with two goals from Tuncay before half-time, with Necati Ates levelling the scores at 3-3 from the spot six minutes into the second half after Serhat Akin was brought down.

Streller’s goal on the counter-attack came with six minutes remaining and, despite Tuncay completing his hat-trick, the Swiss held on.

Spain, who had won 5-1 in their first leg against Slovakia, cruised through their second leg in Bratislava with a 1-1 draw and the Czech Republic also had a comfortable night against Norway, winning 1-0 in Prague for a 2-0 aggregate score.

Earlier, Australia beat Uruguay on penalties to earn their first World Cup place since 1974.

Elsewhere, Trinidad and Tobago claimed their first appearance at the World Cup finals with a 2-1 aggregate win over Bahrain.

Trinidad, coached by former Ajax manager Leo Beenhakker, secured a ticket to Germany thanks to Wrexham defender Dennis Lawrence, who headed the only goal of the second leg against Bahrain.

Lawrence scored four minutes after half-time with a free header from Dwight Yorke’s corner in Manama to send the Caribbean nation into the finals and earn the CONCACAF region a fourth World Cup place.

Beenhakker said: “We scored a good goal, a wonderful goal and after that it was a very nervous situation for the players.

“Most of them are not used to playing under such pressure but at the end we saved the result and you can imagine that everybody is unbelievably happy.

“It’s the first time in history that this country will be represented in the World Cup, so I suppose it will be a one-week carnival in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Trinidad conjured the best chance of a scrappy first half when Stern John did well to control Rangers defender Marvin Andrews’ ball into the penalty area from deep on the right flank but the Derby striker’s effort was saved by Ali Hassan.

The game opened up more in the second half and, with four minutes gone, Trinidad claimed the goal they so desperately needed, Lawrence rising above the flatfooted home defence to head powerfully past the keeper.

Two minutes later Trinidad would have made it 2-0 but for the heroics of Hassan, who parried John’s shot to relative safety as the striker bore down on goal.

Substitute Russell Lapaty should have wrapped the game up for Trinidad with 10 minutes to go, but the Falkirk striker hit the crossbar despite having the time and space to score.

Tempers flared as Trinidad ran down the clock and the Caribbean side held on to record a famous win as Hussein Ali was sent off following an altercation with the referee which involved the majority of his team-mates.

The following teams have qualified for next summer's World Cup finals in Germany:

African zone: Angola, Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, Tunisia.

Asian zone: Japan, Iran, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia.

European zone: Germany (as hosts), Ukraine, Holland, Poland, England, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia & Montenegro, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain.

North, Central American and Caribbean zone: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago.

South American zone: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay.

Oceania zone: Australia.